12 housing markets struggling the most with home sales as virus lockdown lifts

Advisors may see an uptick in clients interested in home ownership as the number of pending home sales hit a record high last month. However, while many parts of the country reopen following coronavirus lockdown orders and as mortgage rates dip to all-time lows, some housing markets have not experienced a boom.

The number of pending home sales dropped annually in 17 of the top 35 metro areas, according to a study from CoreLogic, which analyzed data from May 7 through June 6.

"While the pickup in housing activity appears strong and possibly not expected this early following the crisis, housing activity differs widely across metropolitan areas and is in part driven by the severity of the pandemic as well as stringency of shelter-in-place orders in local areas," Selma Hepp, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, said in the report.

CoreLogic's analysis compares pending sales in the 30-day period ending the first week of June 2020 to the year before, while showing year-over-year change in home sales from the year's opening quarter before countrywide lockdowns took place. It also examined the share of homes sold below asking price for both of those time frames.

Here's a look at 12 housing markets with the biggest annual declines in pending home sales for the late spring, according to CoreLogic.